CHAPTER 4 The Secret Beneath the Floorboards
The metallic BANG echoed through the mansion.
Everyone froze.
For a fraction of a second, no one moved.
Then another sound followed.
Scrape...
Like heavy furniture being dragged across an old wooden floor.
Adrian spun toward the grand staircase.
"Stay here."
He was already running before anyone could answer.
Natalie followed close behind.
Rachel clutched Emma protectively, but the little girl twisted in her arms.
"They're still inside!"
Rachel's heart pounded.
"There isn't anyone up there."
Emma shook her head violently.
"Yes, there is."
By the time Adrian reached Claire's dressing room, the door stood exactly as he had left it.
Half open.
The hallway was empty.
Rain lashed against the tall windows, sending flashes of lightning across the polished floor.
Adrian stepped inside.
Nothing had changed.
The vanity remained untouched.
The wardrobe still stood open, revealing the hidden passage.
The old chest lay where they had found it.
Yet something felt...
Different.
Natalie entered behind him.
"Did you hear that?"
He nodded.
"It came from this room."
They searched every corner.
Nothing.
Then Adrian noticed Emma standing in the doorway.
No one had seen her come upstairs.
She pointed toward the center of the room.
"The floor."
Adrian frowned.
"The floor?"
Emma nodded.
"The crying lady keeps looking there."
Natalie exchanged a glance with Adrian.
He slowly walked toward the center of the room.
An antique Persian rug covered most of the hardwood.
Claire had bought it during their honeymoon in Istanbul.
He hadn't touched it since the funeral.
Together, he and Natalie rolled the heavy rug aside.
Dust rose into the air.
Beneath it lay polished oak floorboards.
Perfectly aligned.
Except for one.
Near the fireplace.
A single plank was slightly darker than the others.
Barely noticeable.
Unless you were looking for it.
Adrian crouched.
He ran his fingers along the edges.
One corner was worn smooth.
As if it had been lifted many times.
"Get me a pry bar," he called.
Within minutes, a maintenance worker arrived with tools.
The room watched in silence as Adrian slid the flat edge beneath the board.
He pulled.
Nothing.
He tried again.
With a loud crack...
The plank lifted.
Underneath...
There was a narrow cavity.
Only six inches deep.
Inside rested a small leather notebook.
Nothing else.
No jewelry.
No cash.
Just a notebook wrapped carefully in waterproof cloth.
Adrian lifted it out.
Claire's initials were embossed in gold.
C.W.
Natalie's eyes filled with tears.
"It's her journal."
Adrian carefully opened the first page.
The handwriting matched the letter.
Claire's.
But this wasn't a diary.
Each page contained dates.
Names.
Amounts of money.
Meetings.
Phone numbers.
Almost like...
An investigation.
"What is this?" Rachel whispered.
Adrian flipped another page.
Then another.
Claire had been documenting something for nearly eight months before her death.
Every entry mentioned one company.
Blackridge Consulting.
Natalie frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
Neither had Adrian.
Yet Claire had written the name dozens of times.
Then he reached an entry dated only three weeks before the crash.
His heartbeat quickened.
Madison met with Blackridge again today.
She lied about lunch with friends.
I followed her instead.
She doesn't know.
The room became deathly quiet.
Adrian continued reading.
The man in the gray suit noticed me.
I think they know someone is watching now.
Another page.
If anything happens to me... it wasn't random.
Another.
I copied everything.
The bluebird is safer than the bank.
Another.
Adrian can't know yet.
If he's involved, they'll kill him too.
Adrian stopped reading.
The words struck him harder than anything else.
Claire had hidden the truth...
To protect him.
Not because she didn't trust him.
Because she did.
Natalie wiped away tears.
"She was trying to save you."
Before Adrian could answer...
Emma quietly spoke.
"Keep turning."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"The last page."
Adrian flipped rapidly toward the back.
Most of the remaining pages had been torn out.
Only the final sheet remained.
Across it, Claire had written one sentence.
In rushed handwriting.
As though she'd been interrupted.
Never let them know about the key.
Adrian instinctively reached into his pocket.
The tiny silver key.
Still there.
He held it in his palm.
"So the key wasn't for the bluebird."
Natalie nodded slowly.
"It opens something else."
Rachel frowned.
"But what?"
Before anyone could answer...
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the mansion.
Someone screamed downstairs.
The emergency generator failed to start.
Only lightning illuminated the room in brief white flashes.
Adrian reached instinctively for his phone.
No signal.
Natalie checked hers.
"Mine too."
Rachel whispered,
"How is that possible?"
The entire estate had lost power.
Cell service.
Security.
Everything.
A cold voice suddenly echoed from the hallway.
"You should have burned that journal."
Every head turned.
A tall figure stood at the doorway.
Hidden by darkness.
Only the outline was visible.
Broad shoulders.
A hood.
Gloved hands.
No face.
Adrian stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The figure laughed softly.
"You really don't remember me."
Then...
The stranger reached into a coat pocket.
Pulled out a pistol.
Fitted with a suppressor.
Natalie gasped.
"Adrian!"
Pfft!
The first shot shattered the mirror above Claire's vanity.
Glass exploded across the room.
Everyone dropped to the floor.
Emma screamed.
Rachel shielded her daughter.
The hooded figure fired again.
Pfft!
The bullet struck the wooden chest, splintering the lid.
Adrian grabbed Natalie and pulled her behind the wardrobe.
Another shot.
Closer.
The intruder wasn't trying to scare them.
He was aiming for one thing.
The journal.
Adrian looked down.
It was still clutched in his hand.
The hooded man took one slow step into the room.
Then another.
His voice remained eerily calm.
"Give me Claire's notebook..."
May you like
"...and maybe only one of you dies tonight."
END OF CHAPTER 4
